I talk about my past, how went from an open source geek, to a free culture advocate, and about Magnatune and BookMooch

1. Squeezing the Evil
out of the music industry
John Buckman <john@magnatune.com>
http://slideshare.net/johnbuckman
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

3. Squeezing the Evil
out of the music industry
John Buckman <john@magnatune.com>
http://slideshare.net/johnbuckman
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

4. Personal

5. My Journey

6. From
Open Source
Geek

7. int Ns_ModuleInit(char *hServer, char *hModule) {
nsdbContext *context = ns_malloc(sizeof(nsdbContext));
Ns_RegisterShutdown(nsbdShutdown, context);
if (hServer) {
context->server = ns_malloc(strlen(hServer)+1);
strcpy(context->server, hServer);
} else {
context->server = NULL;
}
if (hModule) {
context->module = ns_malloc(strlen(hModule)+1);
strcpy(context->module, hModule);
} else {
context->module = NULL;
}
Tcl_InitHashTable(&table_handles, TCL_STRING_KEYS);
dbenv_start(home);
Ns_MutexInit(&mutexBDPut);
Ns_MutexInit(&mutexBDSync);

8. To
Open Culture
Nerd

9. from
Legally
Ignorant

10. 1993
(I was 24 years old):
Desktop Internet Reference

11. License:
The Desktop Internet Reference
is in the public domain
and may not be sold...

12. That makes no (legal) sense.
but it was a
“CC by-nc-sa” concept

13. to
Stallman

14. http://www.samag.com/documents/s=1148/sam0107a/0107a.htm

15. to
Lessig

17. to
Blissful
Enlightenment

18. Amarok
Rhythmbox
Songbird
Squeezebox

19. Bang & Olufsen
Renault

20. Blair Witch Project

21. Ubuntu
&
Canonical

22. It’s all good

23. from
Introverted
by nature

24. A film:
“Defending
Your Life”

26. Toastmasters

28. to
Extroverted
by choice

29. A bit more
Activist

33. Wanting to
sleep better at night

34. Lyris

35. Majordomo

36. Mailman

37. Unhappy

38. Sold out

52. But, there was a problem.

53. Our business model sucked.

54. BIG music license fees
are an old-boy network

55. Our download advantages:
* no drm
* high audio quality
* musicians get paid

56. Yawn.
iTunes does that all now.

57. Cory Doctorow says:
DRM is not a feature

58. I say:
The lack of DRM is
also not a feature.

59. Our consumer model is outdated.

60. In 1970:
Shopping for music is fun!

61. In 2000:
Shopping online for music is fun!
(just like in a physical store)

62. In 2008:
Shopping for music online is boring

63. Find a teenage girl
Look at her iPod

64. You will find:
Collections
Music from my friend Amy
That cute DJ
Chill out
I wanna feel good! music

65. Our analysis:
being a music librarian is no fun
- picking music is tedious
- backing up, moving music is work
- “I just want to listen!”

66. Our analysis:
People want access,
they want curated collections,
they want simplicity.

67. Our new business model

68. Help us stop selling you music

69. Tell us how much you want to pay
each month

70. We give you complete access to
our music, in every way you can
imagine

71. streaming from work
downloads
3g iPhone app
web player
multihour podcasts
Creative Commons legalized sharing

72. completely changes the seller/buyer
dynamic

73. “customers”
become
“members” and
“supporters” and
“connectors”

74. and all I need to worry about is
keeping them happy.

75. Forget B2C!
What about B2B?

76. US music business is
$18 billion annually

77. $12 billion of that is licensing

78. Yes, 2/3rds.

79. Record labels are scared, slow,
stupid.
And they’re downsizing.

80. And many companies are out-
competing them with licensing.

81. Our niche:
rights you can’t get elsewhere

82. Renault Megane

83. From the producers of
The Blair Witch Project

86. To summarize

87. Music licensing is an ok business
slow to build,
focus on untapped niches

88. Download sales are dying

89. For now:
Memberships,
all-you-can-eat,
no restrictions,
works.

90. Magnatune won’t
take over the world

91. but it can make a contribution

92. and it’s a nice way
to spend a decade of my life

94. Home bookshelves
around the world

95. Their books available to you

96. for free

97. and nothing publishers
can do about it

98. BookMooch
makes money with:
- margin on Amazon sales
($40,000 in monthly Amazon book sales)

99. Twenty companies
The largest:
BookCrossing
PaperbackSwap
BookMooch

100. Estimate:
Two million people
have tried book swapping

101. At least
50,000 books
are swapped
each day

102. Google loves us

103. BookMooch - total number of swaps

104. 800,000 in 2nd year
300,000 in 1st year
BookMooch - total number of swaps
1 year ago: 300,000 - now at 1.1 million

105. Book swapping web sites
will be the first global, free
repository of most historical
human knowledge

106. Whatcha think?
John Buckman <john@magnatune.com>
http://slideshare.net/johnbuckman
CC BY-SA 3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/